


Never Rise Again

by Salmon_I



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Life as a Teen in a Zombie Apocalypse, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Violence, Original Characters - Freeform, Season 2 characters only
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-09-03 03:06:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16754851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmon_I/pseuds/Salmon_I
Summary: Sophia is fifteen the first time Daryl sees her do it. One of her throwing knives in her hand, she kneels over the body and says the phrase all the teenagers seem to have picked up somewhere. "May you never rise again."Carl has shovels out, and when Martha and the other teenage boy look at him in confusion, he says in a steady tone, "We bury our dead."And that's all Glenn. The phrase, though, that must have come from one of the other packs of survivors. The ritualistic stab or shot to the brain - cleaner than the pick axe from that long ago night at the quarry - seemed to be some sort of death rite to the teens. To those whose memories of the world before are faded but still there, rekilling the dead is a necessary evil. To the teens it's just a way of life. It's not until he witnesses Sophia that night that he realizes that.





	Never Rise Again

**Author's Note:**

> This was written awhile back for this prompt:
> 
> I just want some snippets of Carl and Sophia being children of the zombie apocalypse, and the things they grow up taking for granted that surprise Rick and Lori and Carol and the others.
> 
> Anything from them calmly teaching some five year olds how to operate guns, to Carl's life philosophy that 'everything is food for something else', to Sophia being completely not-intimidated and rolling her eyes while the grown-ups freak out, because she's survived in forest full of zombies for a week and this is nothing. Or, maybe they prefer squirrel meat to thanksgiving turkey. Or play humans vs. zombies with the other kids. IDK. Whatever you might like!

Sophia is fifteen the first time Daryl sees her do it. One of her throwing knives in her hand, she kneels over the body and says the phrase all the teenagers seem to have picked up somewhere. "May you never rise again."

There's a flash of silver as she stabs the weapon through the brain of the dead camp member he doesn't even know the name of. They'd met up with the other band of survivors just two nights ago and the only name he's managed to pick up is Martha - and that's cuz she's the fourteen year old girl who's been hanging around Sophia. He wages a bet Glenn and Carol know each and every name already. The walker herd has taken three victims - none of them their own, thankfully, but he knows that a fair amount of his people will still take the deaths hard. Rick already has that haunted, guilty look he does after every death.

Carl has shovels out, and when Martha and the other teenage boy look at him in confusion, he says in a steady tone, "We bury our dead."

And that's all Glenn. The phrase, though, that must have come from one of the other packs of survivors. The ritualistic stab or shot to the brain - cleaner than the pick axe from that long ago night at the quarry - seemed to be some sort of death rite to the teens. To those whose memories of the world before are faded but still there, rekilling the dead is a necessary evil. To the teens it's just a way of life. It's not until he witnesses Sophia that night that he realizes that. She's calm as she does it, and he wonders then if it's because she doesn't know them well enough to be grieving.

When she performs the ritual on one of their own at sixteen, she's crying, but she's not hysterical. Her hand is still steady as the silver flashes down. "May you never rise again."

Carol winces at the sight, and her eyes are slightly haunted as she meets his. She doesn't like that this is her daughter's "normal", and Daryl isn't sure he likes it either. At sixteen, Sophia's only concerns should have been high school dances and failing math. (Actually, she's good at math, it's cooking she's horrible at. She'd have failed home ec, he'd once thought, and actually found the time to wonder if they were even still teaching home ec when the world ended. He'd quickly kicked himself for such random thoughts. He blames Glenn's influence cuz he can.) There's no high school anymore, though, and definitely no formal dances. Sophia never wears skirts, because they catch in things, and she's filthy more often than clean because truly having time to bathe is a rare privelage. None of them like it, but they've gotten used to it. This is their world, and what can any of them do about it?

More over, the kids don't seem to care about these things like they do. That's obvious when Carl brings over the shovel and squeezes Sophia's shoulder. Her smile is grateful, and though it's obvious their grieving, they go together to pick out a burial spot. Death is normal to them. It doesn't erase the hurt, but it doesn't break them as it has members of their group in the past. It's their way of life.

* * *

  
Rick holds onto his son, despite the fact that he's hard to hold onto. All wiry muscle from growing up fighting for his life. Steven is fighting T-Dog and Andrea's hold - not as good a fighter as his boy, and he has a bloody nose to prove it. "You take it back!" Carl is snarling.

"I won't! You started it!" Steven responds, words coming out thick because of his most likely broken nose.

"Take it back!"

"I won't! You have the brains of a Geek!"

Carl nearly rips his arms free, and Rick struggles to hold on. "You call me a Walker again and I'll beat you're face in!"

"Go ahead! Bite me while you're at it!"

Andrea has to let go of Steven to step between them when Carl breaks his father's hold. "Stop it! What's gotten into you two?"

"You're the geek!" Carl ignores her to shout at Steven. T-Dog pulls Steven back further when he tries to lunge at the other boy.

"Hey! Stop it!" Rick finally snaps out.

Eventually the two are calmed down enough not to lunge at one another. They still storm off in opposite directions, and it will be over a day before they apologize to each other. Rick heaves a sigh as he watches them go, glancing at the others still hanging around.

"I must be getting old." Andrea offers him a smile. "Calling someone a geek didn't used to be the ultimate insult."

Rick manages a smile at that. "I don't recall telling someone to bite you being fighting words either."

T-Dog snorts, and turns to head back inside. "The world ends and teenagers still make up new lingo. Some things never change."

* * *

The kids don't come in for lunch, and it sets off warnings in all their minds. When they find them ten minutes later, they're by the fence. There's only three geeks - nowhere near enough numbers to knock it down. Marcus, a ten year old boy Glenn brought back from a supply run, is trying to shoot one with a slingshot, but his shots keep missing the head. They hit the fence, a shoulder; one knocks off a finger. Carl, Steven, Martha, Sophia, and Judith are all gathered around. Some of them are even lounging on the ground as if being this close to three Walkers isn't the slightest bit frightening or dangerous.

"I could hit it!" Judith insists loudly with all the confidence of any five year old who views something as a game.

"When you're older, squirt." Carl tells his sister. He has his gun out, but it's across his lap where he's sitting in the grass.

"I'm five!" She complains, but is ignored.

Steven gives Marcus another rock, and he shoots again. His new shot hits the head, but not hard enough, and the walker gets back up.

"This is getting sad." Sophia whispers to Martha, but Steven shoots her a glare.

"It's his first time with a shooting weapon."

"I think he better stick with that fishing hook thing. Glenn says he killed two geeks with it." Martha pipes up.

"Everyone needs a long range weapon too." Carl puts in, ever practical.

"I don't think a sling shot's his weapon. Maybe we should try something else." Sophia offers.

"I could hit it!" Judith is saying again, pouting at being ignored.

"What are you doing?" Andrea demands.

"Trying to teach Marcus to shoot." Carl answers as if it's a dumb question.

"Why didn't you sound the alarm?" Rick demands of his son.

"Geez, there's only three of them. No need for the whole camp to come running."

Ignoring them, Marcus shoots again, but the rock only bounces off the fence, not managing to get through any of the openings. Martha flops back on the dirt with a sigh. "Give it up, Steven, let him stab them."

"Give me that." Glenn grabs the slingshot off of Marcus. The boy looks up at him, startled. "This isn't a game. Those things could have hurt you if they'd gotten through."

"There's only three of them." Carl repeats, frowning. "Sophia and I could have taken them out ourselves, and we had Steven and Martha here too."

"You don't play with walkers." Rick is scowling at his son, lifting his daughter into his arms. "And you don't bring Judith near them."

"I wouldn't have let her near the fence."

"I'm not a baby! I wanna kill a walker!" Judith announces. Rick looks a little green at her words.

"But Marcus needs a long distance weapon, right?" Steven looks at Glenn in confusion.

"You don't practice shooting on Walkers." Glenn waves a hand at the fence.

"But the target field don't move, and you won't know if you're hitting it hard enough for a killing blow." Steven argues back.

"Killing ain't a sport. You kill for specific reasons, not for fun. You gonna practice on the dogs next?" Daryl speaks up, tone irate.

Sophia looks at Daryl in horror. "We'd never do something like that to something living, Daryl! That would be cruel."

"Sophia, every walker used to be a person." Carol reminds her daughter.

"But they aren't now, Mama. They're just geeks." Sophia's expression is confused. An unsettled silence fills the space after her words. The other teens and children seem to share her confusion. There's a line somewhere in their mind that is drawn in absolute certainties. Once you're risen, you no longer count as anything. No longer human, not even animal. Not alive means you don't count. Just a walker. Just a geek.

It's a line the adults who lived before walkers have always struggled to draw. They did it to survive, but it didn't take away that you were killing something that had once been someone. They've had to kill friends; family. The actions haunt them.

As the two generations face off, the three walkers at the gate moaning and rattling the metal structure provide the only sound. No one knows what to say to bridge this distance between them. Nothing probably ever will.

* * *

"I gotta take a piss." Steven announces.

"I'll watch." Martha stands up. "But if you pass foul ones, you owe me."

"I said a piss, not a shit."

"Yah, yah."

Carol, Glenn and T-Dog sit in uncomfortable silence as the two head outside. "Buddy systems to the bathroom used to be a girl thing." T-Dog can't help but say.

"Well, saying you'll watch someone when they mentioned going to the bathroom didn't used to be sociably acceptable." Glenn points out.

"She meant she'd be look-out." Carol sighs. "But still..."

"It just sounds so wrong." Glenn finishes her thoughts. Privacy wasn't what it once was when you were living in a zombie apocalypse.

* * *

Andrea is helping T-Dog mend a section of the fence when Glenn bounds over and shoves both their shoulders. "Check this out." He hisses, jerking his thumb to where Carl is approaching Sophia - something hidden behind his back.

"What could be so exciting?" T-Dog asks, but he's no less curious what's going on then she is as they turn to watch - flies on the proverbial wall.

"Hey, Carl, how was the supply run?" Sophia asks. Andrea notices she's conspicuously clean. From her hair to her clothes. No immediately visible dirt streaks, hair still damp from being washed - even her shoes look like they've been wiped off. Everyone knew Glenn and Carl were due back today. It didn't seem to be mere chance. She remembers her own teen years - reapplying eyeliner and lipstick before the class with her current crush. She wonders if Sophia washing up before Carl's return is the new equivalent.

"It wasn't that exciting. We only saw a handful of geeks. Got most of what we went for, though."

Supply trips weren't day trips for canned food and meds now. They were week long trips for things that sometimes needed to be traveled far for. Equipment, raw materials. Things they couldn't grow or gather - or that they hadn't figured out how to make yet. Glenn had a habit of bringing back random other things too. It had started with the cats, then the dogs, then Marcus. There was a constant betting pool on what he'd bring back next. Daryl swore if he brought back a pig, he was slaughtering it for bacon no matter who said what. Carol had her bet on a horse. He seemed empty handed, so nobody had won this round. Carl, however, was still hiding something behind his back.

Andrea's first boyfriend had bought her a bracelet. She remembered that as the two teenagers toed around each other.

"Pretty boring then, huh?"

"Well, we did swing by this one place, and there was some cool stuff there. I wanna discuss going back for a couple things with my dad, but one thing caught my eye and I couldn't just leave it there."

"So... you wanna show me?"

"Actually, I want to give it to you." And something wrapped in a sheet was placed in her hands.

"A gift?" Sophia was blushing. Andrea was pretty sure Carl was too.

"Yah..."

Sophia hastily unwrapped it, and she gaped at the crossbow in her hands. "Where-"

"It was a history museum. There's all these old weapons, but I saw the crossbow and... well, I know Daryl taught you, but it's not easy to find. Glenn says it needs some new string, but otherwise it looks good."

"Oh, but... but I couldn't take this, I mean..." Sophia sounded positively breathless. "A weapon like this is so rare."

"You're the best shot in the camp." Carl countered, and Sophia was blushing again.

Prettiest girl in school, he'd said. The bracelet had been real silver, and she'd been flustered. Sophia seemed the same, holding the weapon close. "Thank-you."

"There weren't any arrows, but you can make them, right? I could... help you find supplies."

"You mean, go gathering... just the two of us?"

"If you like. I mean, if you don't..."

"I'd like! I mean... yah, let's do it."

"Tomorrow? We could go in the morning, right after breakfast. We could meet by the west gate."

"I'll be there." When the two blushing teens parted way, Sophia was still hugging the crossbow.

"So much for dinner and a movie." T-Dog commented.

"So gathering trips equate to necking behind the band stand?" Andrea asked.

"How long do you figure before Daryl gives Carl the shotgun talk?"

"Don't you mean the crossbow talk?" Glenn joked. Andrea and T-Dog couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

There's no priest. No wedding march. It's the only time Carol has ever seen her little girl in a dress, and it's a wedding dress. But even in this moment, the present world intrudes. Sophia's crossbow - Carl's first courting gift - is still across her back. Carl's gun still on his hip. They're not alone either. Nobody present is without a weapon.

"I, Carl, take you, Sophia, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life, and never let you rise again."

"I, Sophia, take you, Carl, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life, and never let you rise again."

If the added phrase is a painful reminder of the new world to the older camp members present to view their vows, Sophia and Carl do not notice. It's a vow appropriate to their world, to their future. They seal it with a kiss.

_Fini_


End file.
